The CFTC reportedly imposed over $2.5 billion as fines against 82 legal actions with crypto cases accounting for over 20%.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said it has aggressively enforced 18 crypto-related legal actions in 2022 to show its commitment to protecting consumers and ensuring market integrity.
The CFTC’s 2022 enforcement report highlighted that it had imposed over $2.5 billion as fines against 82 legal actions involving commodity assets, including cryptocurrencies.
Crypto-related actions represented over 20% of its enforcement, as 18 entities were indicted. The report highlighted actions against Ooki DAO, Digitx Futures, Gemini exchange, Tether, and Mirror Trading International.
The CFTC set a precedent on Sept. 22 after it charged Ooki DAO and imposed a $250,000 against. It claimed that the DAO offered illegal leverage and margin trading services and failed to comply with the Bank Secrecy Act.
Crypto exchange “Digitex Futures” was also charged because of offering unregistered futures offerings, manipulating its native token DGTX, and failing to implement KYC and anti-money laundering measures.
The CFTC sued crypto exchange Gemini for allegedly providing false information about the vulnerability of the Futures Contracts to market manipulation back in 2017.
Stablecoin issuer Tether was indicted and imposed a fine of $41 million for making misleading statements about U.S. dollar holdings in its reserve.
South Africa-based Mirror Trading International (MIT) was charged for allegedly defrauding investors of over $1.7 billion worth of Bitcoin.
The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee moved to introduce a bill that will put the CFTC in charge of regulating digital commodities, including Bitcoin and Ethereum.